September 20, 2023
The 130th anniversary of a mass-murder attempt near Brighton, Tasmania, when the main line railway was sabotaged
in the vicinity of the Horseshoe Bridge.
The evening express train to Hobart was deliberately derailed when it ran onto the bridge, which spanned what was then a deep gully.
The locomotive heeled over and ended up poised at a 45 degree angle.
Had it gone over the side of the bridge, the three carriages behind would have followed, with loss of life a certainty.
The locomotive fireman, Thomas Bagley, was nearly thrown from the cab but grabbed an outside handrail at the last second. He dangled
until he was rescued by Driver George Jones.
As with most railway bridges, the Horseshoe Bridge was undecked, with open voids between sleepers. There was a major risk of passengers
plunging to their deaths in the darkness, so the two enginemen and Guard Henry Reynolds guided their passengers across, to solid ground.
Most passengers were uninjured, except for a few who sustained minor cuts from a broken lamp.
Some of the passengers later claimed to have seen three men near the bridge, who disappeared without saying a word.
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The next day, police Superintendent Hedberg and Sub-Inspector Marshall led the investigation into the incident.
A hat, of an unusual design, was located beneath the bridge. Hats like this were only sold by a certain shop in Brighton; the shop owner
had sold only three.
Two of the purchasers still had theirs. A third man had lost his and loudly mentioned it when he entered the Brighton Hotel (now long demolished)
on the evening of the 20th. This man, a local resident by the name of Charles Briggs, had previously been seen walking in the direction of the
Horseshoe Bridge, before the derailment.
On this evidence, Briggs was arrested, charged, and remanded in custody.
He appeared in the Hobart Criminal Court on December 12, 1893, but the Defence Counsel was able to sow enough doubt in the minds of the jury,
for an undecided verdict to be returned. Due to the nature of the charges, the verdict had to be unanimous for the prosecution to be successful.
Briggs was returned to gaol and a fresh trial commenced on February 27, 1894. On this occasion, only two of the jurors were in favour of a conviction,
so Briggs was freed and the case was no longer pursued.
The timber Horseshoe Bridge was accidentally burnt down a few years later (that’s another story).
Major earthworks for a new highway and new railway facilities during the past decade-or-so have changed the terrain where this incident occurred.
